Chief Minister DV Sadananda Gowda has demanded that the Centre extend the proposed Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor project up to Belgaum or Mangalore.

Gowda, in a letter to Union minister of state for road transport and highways, CP Joshi, said: “It is learnt that the ministry is keen on developing Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor on the lines of Delhi-Mumbai industrial corridor. But the state government is of the view that the proposed Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor would not be of use to Karnataka if it is not extended further from Bangalore to Belgaum or Mangalore.”

He requested Joshi to consider extending the corridor further up to Belgaum or Mangalore.

The letter comes in the light of the Planning Commission approving the project, which envisages setting up a high-speed rail corridor between the two cities and industrial clusters along the rail corridor.

The Planning Commission has cleared six such corridors. A separate entity, High Speed Rail Authority of India (HSRA), would be set up to operationalise bullet trains in the country as part of 12th Five Year Plan beginning this April.

The railway ministry has identified six corridors for running the bullet trains, which can reach a maximum speed of 350 km/ hour. The six corridors are — Amritsar-Chandigarh-Delhi (450km), Delhi-Agra-Lucknow-Varanasi-Patna (991km), Pune-Mumbai-Ahmedabad (650km), Hyderabad-Vijaywada-Chennai (664km), Chennai-Bangalore-Ernakulam (649), and Howrah-Haldia (135 km).

Companies from Japan are expected to participate in making the project a reality.

The state government sees an opportunity for industrialisation of Tumkur, Chitradurga, Davangere and Hubli districts if the Chennai-Bangalore industrial corridor project proposal is extended up to Belgaum.

The chief minister is expected to take up the issue with the Centre during his next visit to Delhi.